Only a few weeks after successfully reducing my Charleston County property tax bill. I received yet another bill in the mail. This time it was a Stormwater Utility Bill for $36, which just goes to prove that the government will always get what the government wants out of you, it just might take them a few tries.

According to Charleston County’s Stormwater Fee webpage this is supposed to assist with managing runoff and preventing pollution from being carried into our waterways. The fee is supposed to only apply to residents of unincorporated Charleston County and a few municipalities that asked for them to administer the fee on their behalf. I spoke with Mary Duke, McClellanville’s town administrator, who advised that McClellanville is not one of these municipalities and it’s residents should not have been billed. After several days of calling I finally heard back from a representative of Charleston County who confirmed that residents of McClellanville should not have received this bill and this was an error on the part of the County. He said in order to remedy the situation you can either call for an appeal form to be mailed to you or you can go online and fill one out here. Be sure to include your TMS# (which can be found on the bill) and state that you live within the town limits of McClellanville and the bill does not apply to you in the comments section.

I have to wonder if Charleston County’s repeated “errors” are more than a coincidence and that they’re not trying to make up the difference between their enormous spending budget and significantly less tax dollars from new growth and rising property values that they anticipated as if it were guaranteed to them. So, I am not telling anyone not to pay this bill if it arrives in the mail, but if you live in McClellanville proper I would appeal and wait for a response before you pay.

Note: I’ve already talked to one other resident of the town who received this letter, but if you live in the inside the town limits and received one please leave a comment below so the Town will know how many people were incorrectly billed. Also be sure to tell your friends and neighbors.